Aural Rehabilitation Program: 10 Years of Experience at Ramathibodi Hospital
Krisna Lertsukprasert MA1, Nittaya Kasemkosin MA1, Wichit Cheewareungroj MD2, Lalida Kasemsuwan MD2
Affiliation : 1 Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Faculty of Medicine, Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand 2 Department of Otolaryngology, Faculty of Medicine, Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand
Background : A preschool aural rehabilitation program at Ramathibodi Hospital was established in 2001. The main objective was
to provide early intervention for deaf children and the opportunity to develop listening, speech, and language skills using residual
hearing.
Objective : To evaluate the outcomes of the rehabilitation program for hearing impaired children between 2001 and 2011.
Materials and Methods : Retrospective analyses of the medical records of 197 hearing impaired children who attended the aural
rehabilitation program regularly until they left the program. The questionnaire was completed by their parents.
Results : Most of the hearing-impaired children (87.82%) had profound hearing loss. There were 69.54% diagnosed at Ramathibodi
Hospital and 30.46% referred from other medical centers. The overall achievement of the rehabilitation program was enabling
deaf children to positively and progressively develop their listening, speech, and language skills. Forty-one-point-twelve percent
and 30.46% of deaf children participated in mainstream and integrated school respectively. Only 23.35% had to continue studying
in deaf school because of the limitation in oral communication.
Conclusion : The aural rehabilitation program in the authors’ hospital provided positive progression for deaf children. The program
also provided many bene(cid:976)its, such as close monitoring of a child’s skills and immediate management if the child had other problems.
Moreover, deaf children received a full range of services from professionals, which were good examples for new parents of deaf
children and good role models for teaching communication disorders and to related professionals.
Keywords : Deaf children, Aural rehabilitation program
